Gene Watson arrives at a Los Angeles railway station with his young daughter. When she is abruptly kidnapped, Gene is instructed to shoot the state governor, who is giving a speech at a nearby hotel, otherwise the kidnappers will kill the girl. Will he go through with the plot, and is there any alternative ?
This is a pretty cool thriller. Patrick Sheane Duncan's script is ambitious - the events take place in real time and there are no comic relief or character development scenes - it's all sweaty-faced tension as Depp tries desperately to think of a way out of his predicament. It might work better as a half-hour TV treatment à la Alfred Hitchcock Presents, but there are very few lulls and lots of juicy twists along the way. It's also expertly put together by old pro Badham, with a great nail-biting score by Arthur B. Rubinstein and excellent crisp photography throughout from Roy H. Wagner. The quartet of classy leads all make their mark; Depp's nervous accountant is another of his atypical hero roles, Walken is his usual electrifying psychotic self (although admittedly he's played this role at least a few times before), Dutton is great as the unlikely cavalry in the form of a crippled shoe-shine guy, and Mason sells the story well as the unwitting gubernatorial victim. If the movie has a flaw it's that it's a little bit familiar - you kind of expect the conspiracy, and you know the kid isn't really gonna buy the farm - but it's still a lot of fun just the same. Not a showstopper, but a classy, unpretentious, well-written and sharply put together thriller in the mold of say Peter Hyams' Narrow Margin or David Fincher's Panic Room, although it's really an amalgam of High Noon and The Man Who Knew Too Much. A fine evening's entertainment by a much underrated director.
This is a pretty cool thriller. Patrick Sheane Duncan's script is ambitious - the events take place in real time and there are no comic relief or character development scenes - it's all sweaty-faced tension as Depp tries desperately to think of a way out of his predicament. It might work better as a half-hour TV treatment à la Alfred Hitchcock Presents, but there are very few lulls and lots of juicy twists along the way. It's also expertly put together by old pro Badham, with a great nail-biting score by Arthur B. Rubinstein and excellent crisp photography throughout from Roy H. Wagner. The quartet of classy leads all make their mark; Depp's nervous accountant is another of his atypical hero roles, Walken is his usual electrifying psychotic self (although admittedly he's played this role at least a few times before), Dutton is great as the unlikely cavalry in the form of a crippled shoe-shine guy, and Mason sells the story well as the unwitting gubernatorial victim. If the movie has a flaw it's that it's a little bit familiar - you kind of expect the conspiracy, and you know the kid isn't really gonna buy the farm - but it's still a lot of fun just the same. Not a showstopper, but a classy, unpretentious, well-written and sharply put together thriller in the mold of say Peter Hyams' Narrow Margin or David Fincher's Panic Room, although it's really an amalgam of High Noon and The Man Who Knew Too Much. A fine evening's entertainment by a much underrated director.